Tech Talk

Google unveils new Gmail Google Voice Calling feature

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:19:25 +0000

Starting today, Google is giving you the ability to call any phone from your computer through Gmail. All you need to do is download a plug-in app on to your computer and you can dial phone numbers straight from your Gmail screen.

Granted, if you have your mobile phone with you, why would you bother using Gmail to make a call? Sure, you could have a weak signal at the house for your mobile phone or you just don’t want to get up from behind your computer to get your phone. Regardless, it’s neat to have the ability to place a call through Gmail. This is the next iteration of Gizmo5 technology and is another good improvement to the Google Voice service. This puts Google Voice as a Skype competitor now, because people don’t need access to their phone to make and receive calls anymore.

Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of this year with calls to other countries being charged as little as $.02 a minute. If you have a Google Voice Number, calls made from Gmail will display this number as the outbound ID. You can also choose to receive incoming calls to your Google Voice Number through Gmail.

The new calling feature will be rolled out to Gmail users over the next few days and when active, you’ll see a “Call Phone” feature listed under your chat column. You can get all the details at http://gmail.com/call

Intel to Buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion In Cash

Bobby Schaeffer, Vice President of Editing and Design — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:38:07 +0000

On Thursday, Intel entered an agreement to buy tthe security software giant McAfee for $7.7 billion in cash. With this deal, Intel hopes to expand the security department of the company. The deal states that Intel will pay $48 per share of McAfee, a 60 percent increase of $29.93, their closing stock price on Wednesday.

“In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements,” Paul Otellini, Intel’s CEO said in a statement. “Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences.”

With its purchase of McAfee, Intel is entering the tech security market, one that is expected to grow quickly. Based in Santa Clara, California, McAfee reported about $2 billion in profit last year.

Breaking: Yes, Virginia, there really is a Microsoft Tablet.

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:20:25 +0000

Who knew that, while we were kvetching about Microsoft abandoning the Courier and the HP tablet and drooling and ogling over the ipad,there were several Windows 7 Tablets being born (such as Australian Pioneer Computers and Motion Computing F5 Tablet PC).
And out comes this video of the Hanvon (never heard of them) Windows 7 Tablet vs. the iPad. And, by the way, the Hanvon, as you can see, kills the ipad with many functions. it also has a camera, usb port, and SD card reader,a trackpad(even thought it has a touch screen) and…drumroll… Flash! Some of the only things iPad came out ahead was in the gestures, general video quality (not load speed) and typing on the keyboard. The app menu was easier to use on the iPad as Microsoft still uses the archaic start menu list.
It is suspected that these (and there appear to be a few other Windows 7 contenders out there) will show up in the marketplace by the end of this year. So, yes, Virginia there really is a Microsoft Tablet that may be delivered by Santa Claus.

At any rate, take a look at this video that was found on the internet and let us know what you think:

Breaking: Google And Verizon Announce Joint Policy

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:15:24 +0000

Yesterday, after all the speculation had come to a head, Goole and Verizon, who had last month announced that they would be meeting in private to “discuss” Open Internet Policy, thus eschewing the FCC, came out with a rather startling, to many, announcement of their “Joint Policy for an Open Internet”.
Here is a statement posted on the Washington Post.
There is additional information from Google’s Public Policy Blog .
And perhaps you might like to read another lengthy commentary on PC World which ends with a short statement from the FCC on this issue of Google and Verizon teaming up to establish rules for “open internet”.

From Google and Verizon, a path to an open Internet

By Eric Schmidt and Ivan Seidenberg
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
We have spent much of the past year trying to resolve our differences over the thorny issue of “network neutrality.” This hasn’t been an easy process, and Google and Verizon are neither regulators nor legislators. But as leaders in our respective fields, we have searched for workable public policies that serve consumer interests and create a climate for investment and innovation. What has kept us at the table and moving toward compromise was our mutual interest in a robust Internet and our recognition that progress would occur only when players from across the Internet space work together
The proposal we outlined Monday as a suggested policy framework for lawmakers translates these principles into a fully enforceable broadband Internet policy. In developing this framework, we were guided by two principles: our commitment to an open Internet, and the need for continued investment in broadband infrastructure, which is critical to U.S. global competitiveness.

First, our policy framework states that consumers should be able to choose any lawful content, services or applications they want; in other words, they can choose whatever Internet service they want, go to whatever legal Web sites they want, and use whatever software or applications they want. Our companies have long supported the FCC’s openness principles toward wireline broadband, and we also believe that blocking and degrading Internet traffic is antithetical to the principle of openness and to consumers’ expectations.

Consumers also should be able to access the Internet free from discrimination that is harmful to users or competition. Our proposed policy presumes that prioritization of Internet traffic — such as slowing down delivery of one video file so another’s arrives more quickly — is harmful. Further, we agree that transparency with users is key and that all broadband providers, including wireless providers, should be required to share with their customers in concise, plain language information that explains the kinds of Internet access services they are receiving and the provider’s traffic management practices. But Internet service providers should also have a fair amount of flexibility to manage their networks and the opportunity to provide additional services — such as telework applications, health monitoring services or optimized gaming — so long as these services do not affect consumers’ ability to simply access their favorite sites over the open Internet offerings that this framework would protect.

With respect to wireless broadband networks, we agree that the rapidly evolving wireless Internet is a different kind of network, with unique technical and operational challenges, demanding different consideration than wireline networks. Notably, the 4G network that Verizon also is building on the recently auctioned 700 megahertz spectrum is already subject to open Internet rules. This nascent marketplace for wireless broadband should be allowed to develop further before applying a new set of rules. That said, we believe that wireless providers should be fully transparent about their practices, and Congress should regularly evaluate the state of the wireless market to protect consumers’ interests.
Since the April court ruling that questioned the FCC’s right to penalize Comcast for slowing Internet traffic, the FCC’s authority over broadband service providers has been unclear. Our policy proposal spells out clear FCC authority for enforcement against bad actors. We propose a case-by-case adjudication model for determining harm to users or competition. The FCC should be authorized to stop bad practices, such as slowing Internet traffic or blocking legal applications or services, and to hit knowing violators with injunctions and substantial fines. At the same time — consistent with the Internet’s long history of self-governance — our framework would encourage parties in dispute to first consider using a nongovernmental resolution process to resolve their differences.

We believe this public policy framework empowers an informed consumer, ensures the robust growth of the open Internet and provides incentives to strengthen the networks that carry Internet traffic.

There are hundreds of millions of Internet users in the United States, and no two companies should be so presumptuous as to think they can solve this challenge alone. It is up to policymakers to establish broadband policy for the country. We are eager to work with Congress, the FCC and other interested parties to get this right. We hope that our proposal provides some concrete ideas to move this process forward.

Here at Last-The New Mac Pro Line

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:19:34 +0000

The Mac Pro Line was definitely long overdue for an upgrade from Apple. The new Mac Pro is here for you at last, if you can afford it. The new Mac Pro features Intel’s latest quad-core and 6-core Xeon processors, actually giving you up to 12 cores and offering 50 percent greater performance over the preceding Mac Pro. Clock speeds on the quad-core model are up to 2.8 GHz, while the 8-core model gets bumped to 2.4 GHz for each processor.
The Mac Pro also features new ATI graphics delivered via ATI Radeon HD 5770 or HD 5870 graphics processors. Want improved Memory with that? No problem. Buyers now have the option of maxing out RAM to 32GB and HDD space to 4TB and configuring it with up to four 512GB SSDs.
“But at what cost” you query ? The baseline quad-core model costs $2499,the 8-core model costs $3499, and the 12-core $4999. Add a 24″ Cinema display at $799 to that and congratulations to all who can afford it. Oh, and a new 27″ cinema display will be out in September.

But an expansion looks to be an easier task on the new Mac Pro. Just remove the side panel for instant access to everything. Slide out the processor tray to add memory. Slide out drive bays to add storage. Slide a simple bar to change up to four expansion cards at once. And there are plenty of I/O ports both front and back, you’ll have room for all your external devices.

Other new features for the advanced tech savvy include:

1. Turbo Boost – automatically boosts the processor clock speed based on workload. If you’re using an application that doesn’t need every core, Turbo Boost increases the speed of the active ones, up to 3.33GHz on a 12-core Mac Pro, and up to 3.6GHz on a 6-core system.
2.QuickPath Interconnect — gives the Intel Xeon processors quick access to the disk, I/O, and other Mac Pro subsystems. In dual-processor Mac Pro models, there’s a QuickPath Interconnect between the two processors as well. This connection acts as a direct pipeline, so processor-to-processor data doesn’t need to travel to the I/O hub first. It’s another way the Mac Pro boosts performance across the board.
3.ENERGY STAR 5.0- sets significantly higher efficiency limits for power supplies and aggressive limits for the computer’s typical annual power consumption.
4.Hyper-Threading- allows two threads to run simultaneously on each core. So, for example, a 12-core Mac Pro presents 24 virtual cores that are recognized by Mac OS X. Performance is enhanced because Hyper-Threading enables the processor to take better advantage of the execution resources available in each core.
5.Single-die, 64-bit architecture- makes 8MB or 12MB of fully shared L3 cache readily available to each of the processor cores. The result is fast access to cache data and greater application performance. Combine that with the other technological advances and you get a Mac Pro that’s up to 1.5x faster than the previous generation.1

Is Apple prepping for a Verizon iPhone?

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:27:25 +0000

Rumor has it that Apple is buying millions of CDMA chipsets for a Verizon iPhone launch, according to TechCrunch.

The tech blog published a story Sunday saying that unnamed sources said Apple ordered millions of CDMA chips from Qualcomm in what looks like preparation for a Verizon Wireless iPhone. TechCrunch said that the chipset order is due for December, which could mean a January launch for a Verizon iPhone.

AT&T and all the other carriers around the world that are selling the iPhone use a network technology called GSM. Verizon Wireless uses a competing technology called CDMA. The main supplier of CDMA chips is Qualcomm. So if Apple is indeed buying CDMA chipsets, then it would make sense that it might be developing a Verizon iPhone.

Speculation about a potential Verizon iPhone has popped up periodically since the iPhone’s runaway success began in 2007. It’s been reported that Verizon originally turned down the exclusive rights to offer the phone due to unappealing demands from Apple. Recently, there’s been much talk about Verizon possibly offering the iPhone in January.

Whether Verizon will get an iPhone has never really been in question–rather it’s been a question of when. I’ve said in the past that I believe such an iPhone wouldn’t be available until next summer at the earliest, since a Verizon iPhone would likely support Verizon’s new 4G technology, LTE.

That network is expected to be launched by the end of the year. At first it will be available in a handful of markets. Typically the way these network launches go is that data cards for laptops are developed first. And then about a year later handsets come on the market with chips supporting the new technology. So if the LTE market develops as previous wireless technologies have developed, the soonest a commercial LTE chip would be available would be summer of 2011.

But there is a chance that development of the LTE chips for smartphones has picked up momentum. A CDMA/LTE version of the iPhone giving it access to both a 3G and 4G network would be a home run for Verizon.

Of course, there is also the possibility that Apple is developing another type of product for Verizon’s wireless network. At this point, it’s too early to tell. Even TechCrunch is hedging its bets on the rumors.

“I can’t say with 100% accuracy that an iPhone will hit Verizon store shelves in January, but all of the signals point that way,” writes Steve Cheney in his TechCrunch post. “I may be proven wrong, but based on my history dealing with components and selling to Apple, a Verizon-compatible iPhone looks to be a done deal.”

Alleged Facebook stakeholder explains that he “forgot” about his investment

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:01:09 +0000

Paul Ceglia, the man who is suing Mark Zuckerberg, claiming he’s rightfully owed an 84% stake in Facebook, has offered up an answer to the burning question of why he would wait more than six years to come forward. Quite simply, Ceglia forgot about the contract until he went digging through files looking for things to sell as he faced lawsuits for fraud, according to a Bloomberg report.

Last fall, Ceglia was arrested and faced charges from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that he had committed fraud by taking $200,000 in prepaid orders for his wood pellet business, and then failing to deliver the goods. It was those events, Ceglia now says, that sent him looking through his old files.

In his interview with Bloomberg, Ceglia said:

If this thing hadn’t happened the way it happened, no way I would have ever started looking through these ancient folders.

The contract would just be sitting in there gathering dust.

Ceglia’s memory of a contract apparently wasn’t jogged by all the hype over the years surrounding the social networking giant and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

The document that caused this dispute is a contract Ceglia says Zuckerberg signed, which not only covered software development work Zuckerberg did for a website Ceglia was creating, but also allegedly his $1,000 investment in the development of Facebook. That investment, he claims, entitled him originally to a 50% stake in the company, but ultimately reached an alleged 84% share when taking into account penalties for Zuckerberg’s failure to get the Facebook site built on time.

Facebook has previously said the lawsuit is frivolous and without merit, and Zuckerberg himself said he did not sign a contract with Ceglia that would give him control of Facebook.

With Facebook now worth in excess an estimated $20 billion, a lot is at stake for Zuckerberg, the company’s employees and its other investors.

Skype Files for IPO

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:55:59 +0000

Skype, the Internet telephony company, is looking to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering, according to an S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company will be selling American Depositary Shares (ADSs) and will trade on the NASDAQ Global Market. The offering will be managed by Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and others. The offering was widely viewed as in the cards, though I admit it came sooner than I thought.

Skype’s decision to go public is a result of the company turning into a cash machine. It currently has 560 million registered users and about 124 million of them are active on monthly basis, while about 8.1 million of them are monthly paying users — who on average pay $96 a year for the service. Any increase in the number of average monthly paying users is going to help the company erase any losses and goose up its revenues.

For the first six months of 2010, Skype reported revenue of $406 million, and net income of $13.2 million. During 2009, Skype had sales of $719 million and a loss of $99 million. Skype’s revenues are only going to accelerate as the company’s deals with folks like Verizon Wireless and television makers such as Samsung and LG start paying off.

The company had 6.4 million billing minutes during the first six months of 2010, versus 10.7 billion minutes during 2009. The company logged 88.4 billion Skype-to-Skype minutes so far in 2010, versus 113 billion Skype-to-Skype minutes in 2009. This shows that with time, the network effect only compounds usage, which is a good thing for the company. Even a fractional increase in the usage can translate into billable minutes.

All this isn’t without risk, as Skype notes in the S-1.

We have historically derived a substantial portion of our net revenues from a single product—SkypeOut. For the pro forma year ended December 31, 2009 and for the six months ended June 30, 2010, 86% and 87% of our pro forma net revenues and net revenues, respectively, were derived from the use of SkypeOut. Due to this dependence on SkypeOut as our primary source of net revenues, we are subject to an elevated risk of reduced demand for our SkypeOut product.

Why the huge gap between the number of registered and paying users, as noted above? For one, Skype says that not all registered users are unique users.

The actual number of registered users however is likely to be lower, potentially significantly, for two primary reasons. First, some legitimate users may register more than once and therefore have more than one account. Second, we experience irregular registration activities, some of which we believe are the result of fraudulent activities that involve the creation of a significant number of spurious user accounts.

The S-1 does not describe who is selling how many shares and who actually stands to make the most amount of money — though I suspect we’ll hear that in coming months. Either way, the Skype IPO has the makings of one of those hot deals — one that has a dash of irrationality attached to it.

Google acquires Slide, Wants To Build More “Social” Web

Bobby Schaeffer, Vice President of Editing and Design — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 23:57:37 +0000

Google has purchased Slide, founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and makes widgets that help people express themselves, for $228 million. This seems like their next stem in creating a huge social network that will rival Facebook in years to come. Google’s message regarding the acquisition was rather vague, and not much is known about the deal as of now.However, Google does want to incorporate the acquisition with Google Games, the cornerstone of which is their deal with Zynga, makers of the Facebook game Farmville.

Samsung, Toshiba and Others Accused of LCD Screen Price Fixing

Bobby Schaeffer, Vice President of Editing and Design — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:45:37 +0000

Samsung, Toshiba, Sharp, LG and other major electronics companies have been accused by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of fixing, or causing a change in price, on their LCD screens. It is reported that these companies had secret meetings to discuss the minimum prices, increases, and rates of LCD screens that were to be sold to computer manufactures.

“Our investigation shows that an illegal cartel eliminated competition in the marketplace for LCD screens, made its own secret decisions to boost prices, and then took steps to make those high prices stick,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “As a result, hard-pressed New York cities, towns, schools and hospitals spent hundreds of millions of dollars on LCD screens affected by the illegal conspiracy. My office is bringing this case to get those illegal overcharges back.” said Cuomo regarding the lawsuit.

Of the companies associated in the lawsuit Hitachi, LG, Toshiba, Sharp, AU Optronics and Chi Mei did not respond to a request for a comment. An official from Samsung said it was company policy not to comment on any pending legal issues. The lawsuit also claims that the companies created reports to make it seem as if the price raises were due to supply and demand. The case is being handled by assistant attorneys General John Ioannou and Geralyn J. Trujillo and Acting Chief of the Antitrust Bureau Richard L. Schwartz, under the supervision of Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Michael Berlin and Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Maria Vullo.

Barnes & Noble Considering Sale

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:58:42 +0000

Barnes and Noble is considering putting itself up for sale.

The bookseller chain said it’s considering “strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of the company”. The company, whose more than 700 stores make it the largest bookseller in the US, has watched its stock decline over the past year as digital books encroach on its territory. Barnes & Noble has countered the digital book phenomenon by introducing its own ebook reader, the Nook, but it hasn’t been enough to stop the bleeding.

A battle among Barnes & Noble’s leading stockholders is also emerging as longtime founder and director Leonard Riggio is being challenged by new investors, who have been buying up the bookseller’s stock.

“Barnes & Noble has an iconic brand and unique competitive advantages we believe will position the company to succeed over time in a rapidly changing market,” the company’s directors said in a prepared statement. “The board is confident in Barnes & Noble’s strategy and fully supportive of the senior management team, which is delivering explosive growth in our fast-developing digital business.”

Understand the impact of server virtualization on storage

Barnes & Noble and Borders, its chief rival, have been under pressure as ebook sellers led by Amazon which sells both its popular Kindle ebook reader as well as online books have moved into the turf of traditional booksellers. Apple’s iPad also represents competition to traditional book selling. With its iTunes music service Apple led the movement that caused most large bricks-and-mortar music stores to close their doors.

Google to Discontinue its Google Wave Service

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:03:52 +0000

Maybe it was just ahead of its time. Or maybe there were just too many features, but Google is saying today that they are going to stop any further development of Google Wave.

Wave, a real time messaging platform, was unveiled in May 2009 to an enthusiastic crowd of developers at the Google I/O event in San Francisco. It would “set a new benchmark for interactivity,” said Sergey Brin.

The product is part email, part Twitter and part instant messaging. Users can drag files from the desktop to a discussion. Wave even showed character-by-character live typing. It fully launched this last May.

And while the service has many, or at least some, passionate users (including us at the Cosmic Networks), it “has not seen the user adoption we would have liked,” says Google.

The service will remain live, says Google, although they say they it may eventually come down as early as the end of this year. Google has also open sourced parts of the code and say they will create tools to let users “liberate” their data:

“The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users easily “liberate” their content from Wave.”

AOL misses low earnings expectations

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:36:09 +0000

AOL's earning's are running away, just like their iconic former logo.

Wall Street didn’t have high expectations for AOL’s quarterly earnings–after all, one of the company’s executives exclaimed at a conference last week that “we have a big f-ing problem!”–but the Internet service provider turned media outlet still failed to meet the mark. AOL posted revenues of $584.1 million, a 26 percent decline from the previous quarter, when analysts were expecting about $602 million.

In an earnings release, AOL attributed the losses to slimmed-down search and advertising operations internationally, particularly in France and Germany, as well as to costs incurred by some properties which it has since sold off. In the past quarter, AOL sold the social network Bebo, which it had bought for an embarrassingly high $850 million in 2008, as well as chat client ICQ, and an investment in travel search site Kayak, which it sold for $19 million.

While domestic display ad revenues had ticked up slightly from the previous quarter, they were still down year-over-year. AOL’s dial-up access business, long the bulk of its revenues, continued to shed subscribers and posted a 27 percent year-over-year loss.

“In the second quarter, we continued our efforts to successfully reposition AOL for growth and the company is getting healthier every day,” chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong, who joined the company early last year following a high-profile role in Google’s sales ranks, said in the earnings release. “Although we have much more significant goals for the future of AOL, we are pleased with this quarter’s internal and external trends.”

iPhone 4 jailbreak app goes live

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:28:10 +0000

Jailbreakme 2.0 works on all iPhones and iPod touches running iOS4, its developers say.

However, there are reports that iPhone owners are losing FaceTime and multimedia messaging services, as well as problems for iPad users.

The utility was launched a week after US regulators announced it was lawful to hack or jailbreak an iPhone.

Unlike previous Jailbreak applications, which required the user to be connected to an external computer before they could install it, this latest version can be accessed and installed using the iPhone’s own web browser, Safari.

In a posting on Twitter, one of the developers behind Jailbreakme – who uses the handle “comex” – described the new tool as “exciting” but warned that the server was struggling to cope with demand.

“Please don’t e-mail me if the site doesn’t load, because I know that,” he wrote.

The concept of unlocking an iPhone and using unofficial applications ended up in a legal case in the United States, with the country’s Copyright Office ruling that “the practice of removing restrictions on third-party applications fell under fair use guidelines”.

The case looked specifically at Apple’s iPhone, which has had a number of jailbreaking and cracking applications developed for it.

Apple had argued that the use of these utilities broke American copyright law.

“The user is not engaging in any commercial exploitation of the firmware,” the US Copyright Office decision read, “at least not when the jailbreaking is done for the user’s own private use of the device.”

Officially approved iPhone applications, available from Apple’s online store, make the firm 30% of all sales. Unofficial applications, downloaded and installed “below the radar” make Apple nothing in revenue.

Warranty warning

Last week, Apple released a statement warning users against using jailbreaking utilities.

“Apple’s goal has always been to ensure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience,” the statement read.

“As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.”

There are a number of non-approved applications on the market, many of which are accessible through Cydia – the jailbreak interface that works in a similar way to Apple’s Apps Store. However, unlike official products, they are not limited by digital rights management (DRM) software.

Apple has yet to make an official comment on the release of the new Jailbreak application.

Free At Last :Typography Web Pages

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:25:12 +0000

When I went to one of the most anticipated sites, font-face.com, which soon promised (for a price) to finally free designers to use actual fonts that could be viewed on their webpage, I was greeted with this epitaph:

Our Google Announcement

Google have recently announced that they are also entering the web-font market – with the same free, hosted model as ours.

Although we have put 100′s of hours into the design, development and readying of 150+ fonts (x4 formats = 600!), with only weeks before font-face.com was ready to go live, we have decided to bow out now. A bitter blow to the team.

Our decision has not been easy. Although we feel we would offer a better service, we would after all be competing with Google. A massive might to compete with.

The last thing we would want is to host fonts for everyone to link to, only to at some point (after google have beaten us) be forced to turn them off – destroying your website designs.

So as not do disappoint you in the future, we have decided to stop now. Have no fear though – we will be back! We are hatching a new plan for font-face.com – stay tuned!

font-face.com will still be the home of everything font-face, just not in the original way it was intended.

Thanks

The font-face.com Team x x

My first reaction was “Dang. I was so looking forward to this service. Darn Google. I have only just recently received requests from google to donate fonts to a new project Font Directory. It will probably take forever”.

The very next day, today, I discovered that Google has come out with Font Previewer that makes adding new fonts to your site as simple as copy/pasting a few lines of code.

Google added an option to preview the fonts from the Google Font Directory. Before embedding the code, you can edit the sample text, change text size and spacing, capitalize the text, add underlines and shadows.

“The Google Font Directory lets you browse all the fonts available via the Google Font API. All fonts in the directory are available for use on your website under an open source license and are served by Google servers,” explains Google.

New WiFi Kindle- $139

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:12:12 +0000

Amazon will soon release it’s competition for Barnes and Noble’s Nook WiFi version. The newest Kindle costs only $139 ($10 less than the Noook WiFi) and is an appeal to those who do casual reading.

Rather than accessing books through a cellphone network like Kindles do the Kindle Wi-Fi will use the less expensive wireless internet to download books and magazines and blogs. I assume that, like the nook, you can still hook up to various hotspots to download books when away from home.

According to engadget, who of course, actually got their hands on a model:

The new handheld — slated to be released on August 27th — is 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the previous model, has a 20 percent faster refresh rate on its E Ink (yep, still E Ink) screen, and will now come in two colors (graphite, like its big brother the DX, and the original white). In addition to the color changes, there will be two radio configurations available: a $139 WiFi only version, and a $189 3G version (utilizing AT&T’s network, just like the last model). The screen will remain the same 6-inch size as the last two Kindles, though the company claims page turns are faster and contrast is improved. The internal storage on the device has been cranked to 4GB, and the battery life is now rated at a month with no wireless, and 10 days with wireless switched on. The company also announced plans for a UK-localized version at £109 and £149, respectively, as well as a UK e-book store.

Other noticeable upgrades to the Kindle have been added. The keyboard and five-way controls have been streamlined and altered slightly. The rocker is now more compact and flush with the device, and the side buttons have been modified in length to emphasize the forward paddles, while the back buttons have been downsized. Software wise, there are some interesting new features, the most notable being the inclusion of an “experimental” Webkit-based browser. of course Nook beat them to these things so it was expected that Kindle would roll out these upgrades in their newest e-reader.

Firefox 4.0 Beta Released

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:13:30 +0000

Firefox 4,0 Beta was released today for Mac and Windows with a Linux release reported soon. The new features include: New Look for Tabs.

1. NEW LOOK for TABS

-New Tab Location

Tabs are given top visual priority for more efficient and intuitive browsing.

-Switch to Tab

Navigate more easily by switching to open tabs from your Awesome Bar.

-Apps Tab

Take sites you always keep open—like Web mail–off your tab bar and give them a permanent home in your browser.

2. New Add-Ons Manager

An easier way to manage your add-ons and discover new options for personalizing your browsing.

3.WebM and HD Video

As pioneers of HTML5 video standards, Firefox also supports the WebM format so you can watch open HD quality video.

4. Protection for Your Privacy

Firefox puts your privacy first, fixing flaws in some web standards that allow bad guys to snoop around and expose your browser history.

5. Feedback Add-on

which includes you in user studies. No data will be sent to Mozilla without your permission.

The new beta is jam-packed with new developer tools as well. But as of now the sync function is not working on this version. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Apple updates iMac line, intros Magic Trackpad

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:38:17 +0000

Apple on Tuesday released new iMacs, adding faster processors and new graphics cards. The company also introduced what it calls the Magic Trackpad, allowing users to have the same type of gesture control that they use on the iPhone and iPad.

The iMacs now use Intel’s newest processors, the Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7. David Moody, Apple’s vice president of worldwide Mac product marketing, told us that the processors provide up to a 50 percent increase in processing power over the previous generation.

The 21.5-inch iMac starts with a 3.06GHz i3 processor and the ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics with 256MB GDDR3. The high-end 27-inch 2560×1440 resolution iMac comes with a 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and ATI Radeon HD 5750 discrete graphics with 1GB GDDR5, and costs $1,999.

There are build-to-order options available, including a 2.93GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, a 2TB hard drive, 256GB solid-state drive (SSD), and up to 16GB of RAM.

Apple said the SD slot on the iMac now supports the SDXC format, giving it access to even larger storage cards.

The outside of the iMac remains unchanged. “It’s a real simple approach that provides a complete computing experience. Those are the things that really set the iMac apart,” said Moody.

Presto! Magic Trackpad

In addition to the iMac, Apple also introduced the Magic Trackpad, a new peripheral intended to bring the power of gestures to the Mac.

Users of the iPhone and iPad are already accustomed to making gestures with their fingers on the screens of the devices–swiping, pinching to zoom a photo, scrolling, and so on. The Magic Trackpad allows the same action on the Mac’s larger screen.

The Magic Trackpad is a Bluetooth device that has over four months of battery life and costs $69. Apple is also selling a rechargeable battery pack for $29 that comes with six batteries and will let users change out the batteries in Bluetooth devices like the Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and keyboard.

Moody said the batteries were engineered to have a longer shelf life than other rechargeable batteries on the market.

Compared to older iMacs

Apple’s last-generation iMac came in two screen sizes: 21.5-inch and 27-inch. There were a variety of options available for the for each of the four available iMac models.

The 21.5-inch iMacs came with a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, 1920 x 1080 resolution, and a SuperDrive. The low-end model came with a 500GB hard drive and the Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics card, while the midrange model had the ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics with 256MB and a 1TB hard drive. These iMacs cost $1,199 and $1,499, respectively.

The 27-inch iMac came with a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2560 x 1440 resolution, 4GB of RAM, 1TB hard drive and a SuperDrive. This model also came with the ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics with 256MB. This iMac was priced at $1,699.

The high-end iMac was a quad-core that had a 2.66GHz Intel Core i5 processor. It also had 2560×1440 resolution, 4GB RAM, 1TB hard drive, a SuperDrive and the ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512MB. This high-end iMac cost $1,999.

I Bought A Woot Bag Of Crap, Someone Sent Me A Wad Of Cash

Jamie Welch, Network Administrator — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:19:49 +0000

Reader WootAndTheWay told the Consumerist blog she was one of the lucky few who got to order the Bag of Crap from Woot.com during the last Woot-off. Once the package arrived, she found that she was luckier than she had thought. Her box contained the usual assortment of random closeout goodness, and a folded-up envelope containing $609 in cash. Wait, what?

This wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened. One person got a 70 inch TV in their bag of crap, and another got almost a ton of car wax in their “bag” of crap. Their videos are below, from YouTube.

Woot says that they don’t know anything about how the envelope got there. It’s easy to believe them, since this is a very poor business model. What would you do?

I was able to score a bag of crap on woot.com during the last woot-off. Yay, right?

It arrived yesterday and I gleefully opened it up. I got some pretty good crap this time — mostly the usual stuff, and one thing that wasn’t so usual. It was an envelope with $609 in cash, mostly $20′s, one $5 bill and two $2 bills. You could have knocked me over with a feather! I was shaking. Instead of Bag of Crap, I got Bag of Cash. I know this is hard to believe, but I’m not kidding and I’m not making this up.

Now, obviously this is a mistake. For one thing, the envelope had been folded up like it was in someone’s pocket and I knew Woot isn’t in the habit of sending out cash. The envelope has writing on it, it says “For _____.” This money is someone’s personal property and not sent from woot itself.

I know some people would think “Just KEEP IT” — but I could not sleep at night knowing I had taken someone’s money that didn’t belong to me.

So I wrote to customer service about an hour after receiving the package and asked them about it. I told them that if some poor woot warehouse worker missing their cash, I’d happily return it if they identified who or what the money was for as written on the outside of the envelope.

Woot disavows any knowledge of the money, and while they haven’t out and out called me a liar, it’s not hard to read between the lines.

Today I received a short, curt reply from woot customer service, “Woot does not/would not send out cash in a Bowl of Cereal. Evan”

I received a reply on the forum from a moderator a bit later who said, “Ok, looked into it and have been told that our guy has said our response is the only comment we want to make on the subject, i.e.: we do not send out money at all and this is not from us. No one in the warehouse/anywhere is missing any cash and we have no idea why there would be money in your Bowl of Cereal if indeed there was as we did not put it there.”

And by “If indeed there was” we mean “we think you are lying.”

I don’t think anyone purposefully put it there, I think it was an accident of some kind. I have absolutely no reason to lie, but I can see how they would be skeptical. I would be too if it hadn’t happened to ME. All I can say is that this absolutely not a hoax; I honestly received $609 in cash in my Bag of Crap box that does not belong to me. I don’t know how it happened, I just know I got it.

My questions:

Regardless if they (or anyone) believes me or not, I have elected to wait 30 days just in case someone at Woot discovers they are indeed missing money. Is that all I’m legally/morally required to do? Is that the appropriate length of time to wait? Is there anything else I could/should do to try to discover the owner? The “For _______” on the outside of the envelope isn’t enough information to go on, but I’m not publishing that part in case someone come forward in the next 30 days. I live in California if that matters.

And hey, if it turns out I that I get to keep the money, I’m totally buying myself a new TV with some of it (my current TV is almost 20 years old) and putting the rest into savings.

Thanks for any advice.

What do you think that she should do? Take our poll and let us know what you think.

Google vs. Microsoft in the Cloud

Nancy Raskauskas, Administrator — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:24:14 +0000

The newest battle between Google and Microsoft concerns selling Web-based email and other software to the federal government.

These two technology giants already compete to win contracts from private businesses as well as state and local governments by attracting customers who hope to cut costs by switching to Web-based software from programs installed on their own computers.

Now Google and Microsoft are vying to take over the job of providing email to the General Services Administration, the U.S. agency that oversees government procurement and manages federal property.

The contract’s size is substantial incentive enough––15,000 + employee email accounts. However, according to the Wall Street Journal who notes that the bidding is being closely watched because the GSA assists in shaping how other agencies acquire new technology. “The GSA is in a unique position as an influencer,” says Curt Kolcun, vice president of Microsoft’s public-sector business.

Security is perhaps the biggest factor in deciding whether or not to adopt cloud mail.The cloud-based vendors, are responsible for storing and securing personal and confidential information for its users.

On Thursday the GSA certified that Google’s email and word-processing service, known as Google Apps, meets security requirements to qualify for use by the agency, a GSA spokeswoman said.

Microsoft says it is close to obtaining the same certification for a Web-based version of Exchange, a widely used program for managing email that most organizations run on their own server systems.

As an aside, the GSA now uses Lotus Notes from International Business Machines and says it expects to award the new contract before the end of this fiscal year.it does not put a dollar amount on this contract.

More than 90% of the U.S. Federal Government uses Microsoft Exchange for email at present. One of the complaints of email users in the past has been the limited email space offered them on their company servers. The cloud solution seems, at least at this time to offer less storage space constraint. If Goolge attains this contract it could be a coup if the GSA ‘s example influence reaches some of these govenment agencies as well.